Lothal

The ASI discovered Lothal in 1954. Excavation began on 13 February 1955 and continued until 19 May 1960. Trenches on the northern, eastern and western flanks of the mound revealed the inlet channels and a nullah connecting the dock with the river. The findings include a mound, a township, a marketplace and the dock. The Archaeological Museum beside the excavated areas displays some of the most prominent collections of Harappan-era antiquities in India.

The site is essentially of a single culture, the Harappan, with an indigenous micaceous Red Ware culture believed to be autochthonous and pre-Harappan. The main city covered 7 hectares (17 acres).

Before the arrival of Harappan people (c. 3000 BCE), Lothal was a small village next to a river giving access to the mainland from the Gulf of Khambhat. A flood destroyed the village foundations and settlements (c. 2350 BCE), and Harappans from Lothal and Sindh then created a planned township on the lines of the greater cities of the Indus valley.

The town was divided into a citadel, or acropolis, and a lower town. The acropolis had houses with paved bathing platforms, drains of kiln-fired brick, a well, and a warehouse with a ramp down to the basin. A north-south arterial street formed the main commercial area of the lower town, with residential areas to either side.

Lothal was a trade centre. Its beads, gemstones, ivory and shells were exported, and the discovery of Persian Gulf seals is cited as evidence of long-distance trade. The ASI links the decline of the town to floods and storms. A powerful flood submerged the town, the acropolis was levelled (2000–1900 BCE), and a massive flood (c. 1900 BCE) is held to have destroyed the town. A much smaller population continued to live at the site without urban influences. The system of weights with an 8.573 gram unit was retained.